Age of the Dragon
by EmeraldDragonBeast
Summary: Two were-dragons are sent back into Altair's time, now Altair has two headaches to deal with. This is my first story so it will seem bad at some parts.
1. Prologue

_**Prologue**_

_**The dragon is the most powerful being all on its own, but what if their magnificent power was combined and shared with another animal? The result was these half dragon -half animal beings are known as were-dragons or zoan dragons. **_

_**Having four forms; human, dragon, animal and hybrid, makes these beings far more powerful than the original, genuine dragons.**_


	2. The Gold Ball

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This is my first story so yea, I'm obviously not good since I'm more of an artist. But writing is a good way to broaden my horizons and think of things to draw, plus it's a form of art. XD

Note, this is not a Mary/Gary sue, so don't bother with calling it that, cuz that's not applicable here. :D Um, I hope you enjoy it because I put a lot of time and thought into it, it being my first story. I'd like to thank Cyndardragon for proofreading my craptastic story and making it better, and deathadda22 for giving me the inspiration to continue my craptastic story. Any who, rest, review, cry in the corner, just make sure you do it quietly. lol.

Altair, may you do the honors?

Altair: EmeraldDragonBeast does not claim ownership of Assassin's Creed and me in any way. She only owns her two idiots.

EDB: Yes they are idiots, well one is... and are you sure I can't have you? D':

*Altair unsheathes hidden blade*

EDB: *shudders*There you have it folks, proof that I don't (unfortunately) own Assassin's Creed or Altair. D:

Ezio: You may have me mio bella.

****

EDB: WTF, Ezio you aren't even (born) in this story. On with the story!

* * *

Chapter 1

The Gold Ball

It is night, a crescent moon peeks over the remnants of a rainstorms' fury over a grassy plain. The sky shows a beautiful array of star constellations that would make any one look up and become enveloped in it's splendor. Only a dark shadow penetrated the tranquil peace with it's presence as it prowled the plains. It was a dragon that had golden brown fur with green markings on it's body and wings, emerald eyes, a tan colored underbelly, a grey feathery tail, and reindeer antlers. It casually strolled the plains, eyeing the heavens, towards a small spring that lay in the heart of the plains. There, it sipped the cool water and waited.

Before long, another dragon landed on the opposite side and approached the reindeer-dragon with a laid-back expression on it's face. This dragon was a orange dragon complete with vibrant blue stripes running it's body, slate-grey eyes, white fur lining it's under belly and spine leading to it's green colored fin-like tail. It's white horns slanted upwards from it's skull and had two smaller spikes protruding from the sides, a smaller horn rested on the dragons snout. In fact, these dragons were seven feet tall, and fourteen feet long with digi grade paws made for grasping objects and heads bigger than a camel's head.

"Once again, you led the dragon hunters straight to our home." The reindeer dragon chastised

" Don't look at me, they have all this technology crap to help them. The old dragons of the past had it easy when humanity was still using swords and sticks." Blake held his paws as if he got arrested.

" Yeah, well, we should be able to hide here for a while since YOU led the government agents to our house, for the 10th time." The reindeer dragon sighed

" Are you mad, Esmeralda?" Blake said slyly.

"Yes,"

"Don't get mad, get Glade!" Blake teased; he laughed when Esmeralda snorted,clearly annoyed.

"C'mon you idiot, I think enough time has passed for the dragon hunters to have lost our trail and left." Esmeralda got up from laying down and stretched slightly, but her idiotic brother had plans.

"Argh, get to Da Choppa!" He yelled with a fake Arnold Swarzenegger accent while dramatically pointing to the air. His sister just shook her head, knowing that if she was an anime character she would have a giant sweat drop.

"I must've been a bad person in my past life." she commented as she unfurled her green wings and launched into the air, her brother lazily followed her to their desert home. it was a long flight from where they were back to their desert home. Blake was singing some of his favorite songs he knew by heart. Right now he was singing 'Ariels' by System of a Down, his sister decided to join in on the fun.

"_We drink from the river then we turn around and put up our walls._

Blake started beat boxing the tune, Esmeralda sang; more like yelled the next words

"_Ariels in the sky, when you lose small mind you free your life,_

For the last stanza's Blake joined in for the fun of it all, the duo sang in a low voice.

__

"ariels, in the sky, when you lose small mind you free your life,

ariels, so up high, when you free your eyes, eternal prize

Oooooooooooooooohh, oooooooooooooooooohhh, oooooOOOOOooohh, ahooooooh.

"Ping." the orange dragon tried to mimic the real 'ping' in the song, he began to sing 'Chop Suey'

" Hey, what's that?" Esmeralda motioned to a random mesa and started flying towards it, to otherwise escape her brother's some-what awful solo.

"What's what?" Blake asked following his sister's lead.

"Uh, zoom your eyes on that mesa" She said slightly nervous, she was sometimes overly-concerned about other people's feelings. This was one of those few, unpredictable times it hit. Other than that, she pretty much a bit of a smart arse.

"How do I do that?"

"Don't you know? Dragons can focus their eyes to zoom on treasure the size of a coin over two miles away. How else could they gain all that treasure if they didn't have the gift of seeing better than an eagle." The reindeer dragon explained professionaly.

"No, I didn't know dragons could do that." Blake rolled his slate-grey eyes.

"Just focus on that tiny shiny spot."

"Now I see it... know-it-all" He muttered

The duo landed in the middle of the mesa and strolled over to where they saw the shiny spot during flight. It was mostly covered in earth and half-ways buried, but anyone can tell it was a gold sphere when they looked at it long enough.

"What is it?" Blake asked.

"Does it look like I know?" Esmeralda said matter-of-fact.

"Just asking" Blake rolled his eyes again before scooping the dirt from around the sphere. " I think it's a gold ball or something."

"Gee, you think bro? Mayb its an artifact of the ancient dragon?" Esmeralda thought out loud while looking at the gold sphere.

"I bet it's a mind control thingy that will enslave humans!" Blake blurted with a playful grin

"Really Blake, you actually believe that? It's just a ball." Esmeralda sarcastically said. Dragons could only show aggression if they only curled thier lips, exposing their numeous dagger-like teeth. So they have eye brows that slightly bulge out; because of the muscle underneath, that helps a bit with facial expressions although they are still some what limited because of the snout being in the way. So they usually rely on more on voices.

"Hey it could happen." He grinned like an idiot

"Right, next you'll be telling me that zombies will be in the Apocalypse." The reindeer dragon shook her head.

"Hey, that will happen! And when it does, I have my zombie plan ready." Blake gave a thumbs up.

"What zombie plan?"

"Can't tell you, I don't know if you can remember what I'll do if you become a zombie." Blake stuck his tongue out playfully.

"What ever Mr. Zombie-Slayer, let's just get back home before Abstergo zeroes in on our location using God-knows-what sort of complicated technology they have at their disposal." Esmeralda huffed before taking flight. Blake put the gold ball into his specially designed back pack and followed, towards the setting sun.

* * *

"Oh no," Esmeralda said in disbelief when she saw the trail of smoke rising from what once her and Blake called 'home.' She dive bombed straight to the burning house. Flames hungrily licked at the skeletal frame of the structure, devouring every single thing they can eat like a predator cleaning the skeleton of it's victim of all the meat. Everything the dying flames had touched was already burnt to a crisp.

"All my work, my stuff, . . ." Esmeralda drooped her head and wings in sorrow.

"My por- err, comic books!" Blake cried at the scene of his "comic" books being cooked extra crispy.

"Damn you, damn all of you! You sons of bastards!" Esmeralda muttered to herself, she continued to chain swear quite vulgarly into the night.

'Wow, ten whole minutes, and she's still going...' Blake slowly slinked to a safer distance, away from the rage that was his sister to observe the sphere they took from the mesa. It had strange markings and seemed to be made out of a singe lump of gold, the lines were so perfect despite being as thin as a single hair. Plus it wasn't as heavy as the were-dragon thought it would be, it was actually quite light even though it was as big as his dinner plate-sized paw. Suddenly a fist sized rock bounced off the back of his head, he turned to the direction the rock came from.

"Ow, why-" he was cut off

"You!," she suddenly directed her fury to Blake

'Oh, snazzle berries, this will not end good for me. My will states that I leave the rest of my earthly possessions to my pet fish, Gregory. I wonder how he's doing with my friend Fishsticks?' the dragon on 'death row' was torn from his imaginary will.

"If it wasn't for your stupid idea to try to scare away the police and the camera crew when we were being chased for shoplifting, _in the stupid town square of all places! We wouldn't be in this situation!"_

Blake looked to the side sheepishly. "We can fix this, I was just trying to-"

"Trying to what? Make our lives more miserable than it already is? All of my work was in that over-cooked computer to get us a new life where we could actually be like the normal people." her voice started to break " I can't keep running, I'm so tired of always thinking before I sleep if I will wake up in my same room instead of a white room with a bunch of people jabbing needles in me... but with you blowing our cover because of your inability of thinking what the consequences were before you showed your dragon form in an attempt to scare them. Well, you did an excellent job of that, now the government knows your face and so does everyone who owns a TV"

Blake drooped his ears and looked down at the ground. "Es, I'm sorry for what happened. It's just that I believe we have a spectacular gift and I don't want to give it up for some so-called 'normal life.' No matter how much you want to be normal, you can't. I just wanted to scare them enough so that they think they had gone crazy and try to forget about it."

" I don't think that stunt you did would've made them just 'forget about it.' This is the twenty-first century, people want to know about everything they can. And if they see something they don't understand, they want to know how it came to be, what it is, and how they can use it to their advantage. But now, I don't think we can run free much longer, what money we had left was either taken by the government when they came here, or it's burnt. Not only that, but that computer had the resume I needed to get that international business job I've wanted and it was due tomorrow. . . then there's you showing your dragon form in front of everyone. Now the government will crack down on us faster than a roller skating caterpillar with a rocket up it's ass because now everyone knows about us since they probably showed it on the news now. I just don't know what to do now." Esmeralda turned away from Blake.

"Sis, wait. Maybe we can sell this ball to get some money, it's made of gold so it has to be really valuable. The craftsmanship is extremely excellent, so..?" Blake showed the sphere to Esmeralda, hoping it would lift her spirit a little bit.

"Blake, even if we did sell your ball, I don't think it will help much. I think it will only get about two grand, if we are lucky." Esmeralda sighed

"Two what?" Blake looked at her questioningly

"Two thousand"

"Oh, well that's sounds like a lot." Blake chirped up.

"Believe me, it's not. Even if we strictly hunted animals for food and the government doesn't poke it's nose in, which it always does, I'd say the money would last us maybe half a year on college education and a decent place to stay. Prices for decent apartments have gone up a bit, I think."

"Oh, well that sucks. Stupid depression," Blake shakes his clawed fist in the air. "pun intended."

"You're retarded." Esmeralda said dryly. She thought hard for a few minutes, her eyes brightened with realization.

"Dude, I know what we can do! Didn't you have a friend named Fishsticks?" The she-dragon blurted with joy. Her brother gave a hesitant nod, unsure if he should be scared or happy since when ever his sister was this joyful, they would be doing something he wasn't going to like.

"I have a shitty plan, but if it works, maybe we can turn this whole damn thing around an use it to our advantage." Her voice took a more serious tone. "Okay, since you showed yourself to the police, most likely the people and government know your face. So that means that the Feds will be placing a bounty for your capture."

" I don't like where you're going..."

"Shut up, I'm not done. Me and Fishsticks will pretend to have 'captured' you, the Feds will come, give us our money, and when they go to take you to the 'happy lab.'" She brought her hands up and contracted her two first fingers twice. " You go beserk and distract them while I transform and then we bust outta their like Hell threw an unholy Happy New Years party."

"I see that once again, _**I**_ am the bait once again. So let me get this straight." The orange dragon suddenly took a british accent." We meet old man Fishsticks at the ol' Green Chestnut, we say high to Gregory, I play 'prisoner', the Feds come, give you the money, we break out, and we celebrate with a toast as we wait for this to blow over."

"You've been watching too much 'Shaun of the Dead,' haven't you?" the reindeer dragon gave an unimpressed look before looking up towards the starry heavens.

"Whatchya lookin' at?" Blake followed her gaze to the Milky Way streak across the sky.

"Star gazing." Esmeralda whispered thoughtfully.

"Might as well enjoy it, it's 2012, zombies will rise, Abstergo is going to launch their new satellite, and no ones going to save us." Blake sulked as he put his ball into his back pack, he specially designed it to be worn by dragons without interfering with flight or movement much.

"Why so glum all of a sudden,I thought you had your zombie plan?" Esmeralda poked

"Because, I will bet anything that that Abstergo satellite will immediately pinpoint our location when it's in orbit. Then the whole world knows of our-"

" *cough* Your existance, *cough*"

"Fine; MY existence, and now they are saying that December 25, 2012 will be the end of the world. I don't think we can run much longer Es, so we might as well enjoy our last months of freedom while we can. Plus I think you would'nt last in the zombie apocalypse." the orange dragon sighed dramatically.

"How do you know I won't survive? God I hate you..." Nothing more was said for a few hours, when the moon was almost to it's peak in the velvety sky.

"You know, when you gaze at the heavens long enough, you can almost feel the history of us that these stars watched." The brown dragon motioned with her snout.

"Yeah, I guess so. But we are the last of our kind-"

"*cough*As far as we know *cough*" Esmeralda interrupted.

"Yes, well, whatever, but this world will be dead soon. I can feel the sun's anger rising..." Blake looked to the sky.

"You know what the sun is thinking?" the reindeer dragon joked

"No, but I can feel it. It's just, . . . I don't know, I just know it."

"Yeah, I know what you mean. That's called puberty." Esmeralda snickered when her brother glared at her. "But I can sorta feel the moon's power also, although its not trying to kill us; it just gives me a boost of energy. Then, there's the weakening magnetic field..." Esmeralda muttered absent-minded.

"What?" He cocked his head at the brown dragon

"What?" she was caught off-guard

"What were you saying about the magnetic field?" Blake asked, concerned.

"Yes bro, I can actually feel the magnetic field the way birds can. Why do you think females are better at knowing which way they should go, especially during a road trip? Males clearly lack this ability." Esmeralda smirked with triumph and made a 'shooing' motion with her paw.

"No, no, not that. What were you mumbling about?" Blake pressed, he took offense to her remark, but ignored the urge to retort.

"Um, the magnetic field is getting weaker?" She looked confused. "why?"

"Maybe, just maybe." the orange dragon began. " the sun's building energy, the weakened magnetic field. ."

"The sun will emit a giant solar flare when Earth is at it's weakest." His sister finished.

"Yes, everything will be burned crispier than your cooking." Esmeralda shot a glare at him, he merely smirked.

'Take it sis. Revenge is a bitch!'

"So those Nostradamus Effect the History channel shows, were actually true.." The brown dragon quickly changed the subject.

*snap*

"Someones here!" Blake snarled as he got into a defensive stance.

"Get them! Fire at will!" A demanding voice shot out.

"Run!" the reindeer dragon shot off like a gazelle into the desert night, heading for the mountains that were covered in trees. Blake followed his sister's lead by flying as bullets whizzed by, some hitting their mark on him. The sound of off road humvees penetrated the otherwise quiet night.

* * *

'Damn, I told him to run. Idiot, I hope he can make it to the trees where we can lose these Abstergo lackys easily.' I looked back to see small lights far behind me. I grinned, knowing full well I could out run the humvees with ease. Blake was a little bit behind me, slightly limping in his left wing, but otherwise okay. Bullets were still being fired. I turned my head to look at the trees again.

'Only half a mile ahead.' I unfurled my wings and quickly gained altitude when something lodged itself in my hind leg, I didn't care to look when I saw my brother's flapping wings start to go more erratic. Something was protruding from the side of his rib cage, a shape that was all too familiar to me. In fear I quickly glanced at the object embedded in my leg, a tranquilizer.

'Shit.' I mentally cursed when my vision started to go blurry and my wings became harder to flap. My brother suddenly fell from the air, he luckily had enough sense to open his wings and glide, landing in the sanctity of the deep woods. It wasn't long before I slowly stopped flapping my lead-filled wings. Branches of the resilient pine and spruce trees slapped my body repeatedly, but my brain didn't register the pain it should've caused. The soft soil cushioned my fall only slightly as I left a trail of my crash into the damp, easily moldable earth.. I managed to open my eyes and lazily spotted Blake, he lay unconscious, only a few feet away. His gold ball fell out and layed beside him, the muffled sounds of combat boots on soil faded more and more as I lost my battle to stay awake. Then something weird happened as Blake's gold ball started glowing and levitated into the air. The woods faded as a new scene replaced it. A vague silhouette of a city loomed in the distance, everything went black before I could see more.

_Foggyness, every where there was nothing but the same grey fog. I felt like I was floating on a sea of clouds, I had not a clue about where, why, or even who I was although broken fragments of memories shot through my head. But I didn't care, I was safe and felt serene, that was all that mattered now. I closed my eyes for what seemed like an eternity when a piercing, shrill sound disturbed my tranquility. I opened my eyes to see where the unpleasent sound came from and instead of the endless fog below me, I was looking across a prairie. The sun was beginning to set as an army of furry dragons and bigger-than-normal animals of all sorts and colors marched into formation from the west, with their metallic armor glittering in the failing light. I was hovering above the prairie and looked to the east and saw only dragons who appearently had armor too, when they came closer to the dragon/animal army, I realized they didn't have any armor; they were covered from head to toe in lusterous scales. I had no idea who or why these two forces were fighting for, but the onslaught began when both sides suddenly charged. A silvery dragon with a magnificent crest that began at the top of it's head and ended at the base of where it's tail connected to it's body, and a maroon colored underbelly and wings, seemed to be the leader of the dragons. A hybrid, white-as-snow wolf-dragon lead the other army, most of the combatants on both sides took to the skies while the rest stayed on the ground. The battle was gruesome, metal clanked against scales, claws scratched at flesh and armor. Battle cries, screams of agony, and maniacle laughing could be heard in one mega chorus as every single being fought for their own survival. Trickory, cheap shots, dirty tactics, anything that gave one an advantage over their opponents was put to use in this frenzy of bloodletting. Every single elemetal weapon stretching from fire, to ice, to water, to darkness was present in that fight. Screams could be heard of the truly suffering as fire burned everything in it's path. Ice froze some soldiers; only to have the ice statues be shattered to pieces. It wasn't long before the blood of thousands soaked into the earth, turning it into a slightly darker version of Mars. I felt tears begin to well up in my eyes as the massacre continued on the ground, when a body suddenly landed with a painful 'thump' on the ground; barely missing an anaconda as it was strangling a full sized roan dragon. I forced myself to look up, there was also as much chaos in the air as there was on the ground. Talons, beaks, any sharp utensil was being used to their full potential against each other. But the main targets for these sharp weapons were the wings, those who had one or both wings torn off or could'nt stay in the air fell to their deaths from great heights. They landed with sickening crunches and squishy sounds as bones, muscle, and organs splattered across the blood soaked soil. It was rare for a successful ariel attack on the ground forces as each flying combatant tried to stop the attacks on thier own nationality._

_I shut my eyes hard so I could not witness anymore of this blood bath, when all became silent I cracked my eyes open to see why it became so silent all of a sudden. I wish I hadn't as I saw the living burying the dead and mark their graves with what large stones they found. On a lonely hill stood the silver crested dragon and the white wolf-dragon, both had splotches of red and brown, resentment clearly shown on their battle-worn faces. Hot tears stained my face when another horn resonated through the depressed atmosphere. From the east came an army of humans numbering in the thousands, all carrying sticks or swords. Only a few carried strange weapons I never saw before that caused destruction everytime they fired. A lone femal human dressed in what appeared to be royal armor was on some sort of hovering platform, she held something small in her left hand that glowed with a life of it's own. She shouted orders in a foreign tongue and I could only stand there, stunned, as the humans quickly charged and started to over power the already weary dragons and animals with their immense numbers. It felt like I was watching a swarm of amazon ants invading and taking over a smaller ant's hill and territory. I looked away as I glimpsed the humans brutally kill or capture both dragons and animals as they fled for their lives, scattering into the northern, southern, or eastern regions. The female once again held the small object and it shone brighter than before, when it stopped glowing I saw that it was a gold ball. Broken fragments of whatever was related to the ball flashed in my mind, though it fell through like sand when I tried to fully remember what those broken memories were, I returned my attention to what was goint to happen next. I felt rather compelled to keep watching so that maybe I could prevent another great battle like this in the future, if another **was** going to happen._

_Sadly, only a handful escaped, including the silver dragon and the wolf-dragon, who were probably thinking that this war was never worth the effort now that both sides had a new stonger enemy. Then two humans broke formation and yelled some attack signal, one of them pulled a bow out and fired an arrow at the female human with the gold ball. It was aimed at the golden sphere instead of her heart, I did not understand why the two humans would turned on their own kind. The ball fell to earth, now the humans who had sticks and swords turned and fought with the ones who had the strange weapons. Suddenly all the fog blew away and revealed the sun, for a second, it grew so bright I covered my eyes. Immense heat ingulfed me, I felt like I was inside the sun itself, then slowly the heat went away. I re opened my eyes and only saw black dots in place of living organisms. Some how, some way only half of a handful of humans remained. I looked to see if that woman was still alive or a pile of ash, I found her on the ground looking for her lost ball. She found it and held it to the few remaining humans ;even some of the dragons and animals survived as well but they were fleeing to shelter. The woman talked with the frightened people, I couldn't tell what was said because they spoke in a different language. One thing I was certain was that for some reason they called the gold ball, the 'Apple of Eden.'_

_

* * *

_

**There you have it folks, my first chapter EVER! Now I will attempt to read your minds. So sorry (not really,) for you Mary or Gary sue fans, this story is not a Mary/Gary sue in any way, shape , or form. No this won't focus entirely on Esmeralda, it is supposed to focus on both Blake and Esmeralda with a little Altair thrown in for the heck of it. Yes this thing will have a plot, when it comes back from vacation (in the next chapter hopefully. XD). Don't sue me cuz I don't own Assassin's Creed. All I own is my two OC's and what ever original crap I added, like the were-dragons, the poorly-written bloody battle, and my shoddy writing skills. **

**And as a last reminder, **

**IF YOU DON'T LIKE MY STORY, DON'T BOTHER FLAMING. MAKE YOUR OWN STORY IF YOU THINK YOU CAN DO BETTER.**

**that's all, have a nice life. XD**


	3. First Impressions

**Got to make this clear first, Blake and Es are transported back in time _Before_ the actual game starts. I want to have a different intro than most AC fanfics, and this is mostly a test to see what I should improve on to become better at writing stories. Same deal as before, if you don't like it, then get off my story and go read something you do like. If you're critizising, then be free to do so but don't go all hardcore on me. D:**

**No I do not and will not own Assassin's Creed in any way,shape, or form. A.C belongs to Ubisoft.**

**I will also thank Cyndardragon for proofreading this again. She is an awesomtastic person! :D**

Chapter 2

First Impressions

Esmeralda jolted awake from the nightmare. She had tear streaks on her reindeer-like face and was slightly taking in choppy breaths. For half an hour she just curled into a ball and silently cried as the awful scenario played over and over in her head. The were-dragon calmed down enough to push it to the back of her head.

It was still quite dark. She looked around and immediately found Blake still sleeping his life away, but the gold ball wasn't beside him anymore. Her brother had his pack still intact and she was rather surprised that she still had hers despite crashing through a shit-load of tree branches that all had a good chance of tearing her bag off her back. The were-dragons always equipped their backpacks with whatever they thought they would need and always carried it with them whenever they went out, just in case they couldn't be back home for days or even weeks. The brown dragon quickly opened her bag and did a quick checklist of her belongings.

"Let's see, enough papers, pencils, pens, and erasers to choke three elephants, five extra clothes, toothbrush and toothpaste." She nodded in complete satisfaction that nothing miraculously fell out. The stars were still out and seemed to have shifted positions. Not only that, but the terrain was more sandy and the night was colder. The reindeer dragon thought nothing of this and curled up to sleep some more, slightly afraid that the nightmare might return, but it thankfully didn't.

* * *

The sun was halfway up to noon when Blake finally woke from his slumber. He was always a bit of a heavy sleeper with or without tranquilizers. He rubbed his sleep-filled eyes as he glanced upon the new, more sandy terrain. His brain- still being half-asleep -didn't think twice that the sandy terrain was part of a different landscape that had no place in the deserts of New Mexico, once called home by both were-dragons before the burning-house incident. He spied his sister's sleeping form a few feet away from him and got up to stretch his aching muscles to get the blood flowing after being asleep for so long. Yawning casually while standing, he looked upon the barren desert and realized that it did not match the New Mexican deserts he knew to love.

_What the fudge? _The orange dragon just stood there, bewildered at the landscape and intense heat radiating from the sun. The heat here was at least twice the amount he was used to and he briskly trotted over to his sister, prodding her with his stiffly finned tail.

"Dude, wake the flick up, you have to see this." He continued to poke here mercilessly until she awoke, listened her yell at him for waking her, and then proceeded to imply to her about the landscape.

"Notice anything different?" he indicated.

"That I liked you better when you were sleeping like a bear?" the she-dragon harshly said.

"I take offence to that, but _anything else_?" he strained his voice.

"No, why? Am I supposed to?" she replied incredulously.

"God, do I have to draw a picture for you?" Blake indignantly said as he motioned to the desert.

"Maybe, so did you notice that we are in another desert?" Esmeralda observed.

"That was what I was trying to tell you." The orange dragon face-palmed…actually he just covered his eyes since his snout was in the way.

"No you didn't, you kept asking if I noticed anything different."

"I was meaning 'did you notice the frigging desert right in front of your nose?'"

"Anything means _anything_, you have to specify the thing you want to be noticed."

The poor orange dragon just sat on his haunches and did a double face-palm.

_What did I do to deserve this for a sister? Why couldn't I have been reincarnated as a cockroach? _He shook his head, still face-palming, in complete denial.

"What's wrong with you?" Esmeralda pulled an eyebrow up at her brother's display.

"You," was all he said when he got up on all fours and began exploring the new environment they were placed in. After a few minutes of walking around the barren desert, they decided to get a birds-eye-view instead of trekking over the unpleasantly hot sand. They flew for miles in an increasing diameter vulture circle, trying to find something that stood against the tannish-white sand, but they found nothing. They confirmed that they weren't going anywhere by circling like hungry vultures. After some bickering on which way they should go, they went towards the west, since it was the only other direction (besides east) as far as they could tell from the beaming sun. Flying hours upon hours started to take its toll on the two obviously lost were-dragons. It was just about sunset when the duo finally spotted three travelers heading west. Fortunately, the duo were behind the three travelers and were not spotted while they were in the air.

"Look, it's the Three Muskateers," Blake jested to his sister.

"Or the Three Amigos," she replied with a grin.

They followed the travelers to the southwest for the rest of the daylight hours. Blake noted the trio's clothing out of boredom.

_Two have white robes, white hoods, the other has a grey robe and hood. Maybe the grey one is the leader, but why is he at the back of the group? Unless the two white robed guys are masters, and the grey is a trainee? Hmm, I want some mutton now, I'm starting to get hungry... I wonder what cooked horse would taste like._

Esmeralda noticed at how her brother was eyeing the horses that the trio were riding.

"Bro, don't go and scare the poor people just because you want to eat one of their horses. We need them to lead us to a city or someplace with water," she ordered him. "You can go and fantasize what they taste like, or kill one, AFTER they get to wherever they are going."

The day dragged on as the sun continued to beam down on all beings. Blake and Esmeralda were grateful to be flying so that the wind kept them cool during the intense heat, but their wing membranes and anything that faced the sun felt like they were being sunburned. Eventually night began to overtake the setting sun and the group of three settled down to make camp for the night. The two were-dragons decided to land as close as possible to the travelers without being detected so that when the trio left, the duo would know and keep following them. Before long, stomachs were rumbling, a fire was started, and the three vagabonds took out some bread and one even managed to kill a snake that has strayed too close to the warmth of the fire.

"We forgot to pack canned food, didn't we?" Blake sighed as the aroma of cooked meat passed under his nostrils.

"Well, we usually hunt animals that happen to be in the area. But I did not know that your little trinket would teleport us to another desert region with no animals to hunt." She sulked along with her brother.

"I got it; we should go introduce ourselves, maybe they're friendly," he suggested and grinned.

"Did you drink cactus juice? Bro, they might as well be bandits traveling on frequently used roads to rob other travelers. They have hoods, and the fact that they pretty much dress the same with the dress…although it's weird that men would wear dresses to begin with…suggests that they are a part of some group gang or something." Her ears flattened against her head.

"Well, if they are, we can easily take them. Plus it's night so you are naturally stronger than me now, and you are a bit of the stealthy type. They won't know what hit them, so let's go introduce ourselves, play it like we are lost, and maybe they won't attack if they think we've been in the desert and depleted our supplies trying to stay alive." He drew out the scenario in the sand simply for fun. "Come on, get dressed," he said before morphing into a human and took some spare clothes out of his backpack.

Esmeralda, being naturally shy and considerate of other's privacy, trotted away to a safer distance before doing the same. She put on under garments first, a white t-shirt that had the Jolly Roger on it and the words "Pirate Girl" written in flowery letters, a pair of tanned pants that reached to the middle of her calves, and some tennis shoes (with socks of course; who wants smelly and blistered feet?). She put on her trademark golden butterfly hairpin to keep her shoulder-length brown hair from getting in her eyes. She had bangs that parted sideways and tucked behind her ears. She grabbed her bag and quietly jogged over to her brother, who was wearing a simple maroon shirt inscribed with a silvery wyvern dragon, grey-black jeans with a small chain hooked on one side, three belts around his waist (one was through the pant loops, and the other two were overlapping each other), and some slightly loose-fitting boots. He had only short black hair that spiked in all directions, "bed hair" as Esmeralda once called it. They gave a fist-bump and they walked towards to the group of hooded people, who acknowledged their approaching presence.

The first white-hooded man closest to the were-dragons immediately drew his sword and shouted something in another language. The other two followed his actions and drew their swords.

The were-dragons were completely baffled at what was being said. They both gave the first hooded man blank stares when he demanded an answer to his first question in the same foreign language. The other white-hooded man next to the first then translated the question into Hebrew, Latin, and Indonesian, but was met with the same questioning look of 'what the hell are you saying?' by the two oddly dressed strangers. Finally, as the last and most broken language he knew, he asked in English with his Arabic accent, "Who are you?" He was met with looks of recognition and listened intently.

"We only know English so we had no idea of what you were saying in those other languages you spoke," Blake explained. "Anyway, my name is Blake and this is my sister Esmeralda. We are lost travelers and don't know where the next city is."

"Bro, 'don't know where to go' is the definition of 'lost,' you ding-dong." Esmeralda cut in.

The hooded stranger then translated the information back to his comrades and they began to discuss whether they should believe these foreigners and what to do with them in their native language as the two strangers took a seat near the fire to warm up.

"What sort of barbaric tongue are they speaking?" the other white-hooded man said in his native language and crossed his arms.

"It is called English. It is fortunate that I studied a bit of this language in hopes of translating scrolls and books in this language that may be of use to the Brotherhood," Malik retorted.

"What should we do, big brother? They seem to be telling the truth," the grey-hooded man asked to one of the white-hooded men.

"Remember Kadar, the best liars lie as little as possible to weave an illusion of 'truth'. They might as well be Templars for all we know," he responded back to Kadar.

"Then we should dispose of them now," the second white clad man insisted.

"Altair, your arrogance knows no bounds. They might as well be innocents rather than Templars. We need to question them discreetly and watch their body language. They are still young and prone to make mistakes when put under pressure," the first white-robed man harshly said as he turned and began his interrogation.

"Malik, I don't know how you survived all these years as an assassin when you keep doing these stupid acts," Altair seethed.

"It is because _I_follow the Creed," was all Malik said with his back turned. "Where do you hail from?" he asked the duo.

Blake looked to his sister for an answer.

"He means 'where do we come from,' and we hail from the United States of America," she replied incredulously, wary of the white robed man's questions.

"They are lying! No such place exists, unless it is outside these lands across the vast oceans that border the south and west. But the world ends at the end of those oceans."

Malik decided to hear their story even if he didn't believe it.

"Um, you look like you don't believe what I'm saying." Esmeralda started to draw a crude world map in the sand with her finger. Some parts were way out of proportion to other landmasses.

_Is this what the world truly looks like? No, our maps are the true ones as I was the one who drew them in all my travels as an Assassin, for the Brotherhood. But the left portion of this map looks like the Ottoman Empire. Perhaps they are not lying, but I must keep a sharp ear for any holes in their story, _Malik thought and knelt by Esmeralda and examined the crude map in the dirt.

"Okay, I don't know where we are, but the United States of America, or U.S.A, is here." She pointed to said landmass.

"Now would you be so kind as to tell me and my brother where we are?" She looked up to his half-hidden face. Blake wasn't really paying attention to the conversation because he was busy looking at the fire. He was a bit of a pyro, always setting things on fire because it made him feel like fire and life were connected. They both eat, both grow in relation to the food given, and both ultimately die and flicker out of life. He was glad that his breath was fire and his sister's was ice, for it gave him the gift of life; to give others warmth.

"I have never heard of this 'U.S.A' but I know that you are in the Holy lands," Malik gestured to the middle eastern part of the map. He was greeted with a dumbstruck look from Esmeralda as she processed the information.

"What? How can we be in the Middle East when we were in the U.S.A. only last night?" She crawled to where her brother was and relayed the news of their location.

"You have got to be kidding me." Blake had a skeptic look on his face.

"I wish I was but I shit you not that we are in the Middle East."

"Well then, I guess we should head back home tomorrow." He put his hands behind his head and flopped onto his back against the cool, grainy sand.

"You know we just can't go all willy-nilly. The Atlantic Ocean is 106,400,000 square miles plus we have to traverse through Italy, Spain, and Europe to even get to the Atlantic Ocean. It will take weeks, if not months, and people don't normally see a giant flying reptilian thing whooshing over their heads," Esmeralda whispered.

"So? We have night vision." Blake yawned.

"You forgot one important detail; technology. These days most of the world's government has access to those heat seeking missiles, no doubt Abstergo does, and everyone is out to get us now." Her voice got softer in volume so as to not let Malik hear.

"Fishsticks can't keep up with the construction business and go to school to earn his diploma. He needs us to do construction to earn money so he can get a better job and be able to pay the rents. Even a werewolf like Fishsticks needs to sleep, and we owe him a debt since he helped us fight off those dragon hunters a few years ago," he whispered back.

"Yes, but we need to prepare. We are of no use to Fishsticks if we die during our journey back. You know, I never knew why Alexander was nicknamed 'Fishsticks' in the first place. I've been meaning to ask him that but it always slipped my mind." Esmeralda changed the subject before the other men could get suspicious about what her and her brother were whispering about.

"Maybe he loves fishsticks? I've had some and they were to die for, especially with tarter sauce." Saliva nipped at Blake's mouth as the remembrance of how tasty the fishsticks were when he first tried them.

"Yes, well anyway we need to travel with these people so we can get to a city and stock up on supplies before we can even attempt the fly back." His sister curled into a ball near the fire.

Malik approached Blake and pointed to the other white-robed man behind him before pointing to Esmeralda, saying, "My friend would like to know why your sister is disgracing herself by wearing a man's clothes. She will be more proper wearing a dress like other women."

Esmeralda shot up from laying down and flipped off the man behind Malik.

"FUCK YOU! You men think you're so great when you fought wars and plotted and did what ever the hell you do, but who takes all the crap from you when you return home? Women, that's who. We let you have sex with us, we bear your children, we give birth after nine months of hell, and we deal with all the crap men put on us. Do you have any idea how hard it is to give birth? It's worse than scratching your own eyes out with a damn needle since the process can last fucking hours." She snorted and laid back down to try and go to sleep when the man shouted something in his language at her. She just shrugged him off and rolled on her side.

"What did he say?" Blake asked Malik when the man stormed off to the other side of the fire, away from Esmeralda.

"Erm, you do not want to know. He is not so accustomed to a woman speaking out against him like that. It's even worse now that he has met one who is as stubborn as he is." Malik patted his back and smirked.

Blake grinned back at his half-hidden face and sat down to watch the fire for a few minutes. Without turning he asked without hesitation, "Do you mind if me and my sister travel with you to the next city so we can stock up on supplies and try to go back home?"

"I believe it would be best if you did. Both you and your sister don't know these lands as I do and you clearly don't know our native language." Malik sat down and prodded the embers of the fire with a thick stick before he threw the stick in.

"And what is your native language?" Blake asked.

"It would be called 'Arabic' in your language."

"Can you teach us to speak Arabic?" Blake eagerly grinned.

"Yes, but it will be hard because both of you are foreigners. But you are still young, it will be easy if you are determined to learn."

"So, what's your name?" Blake tried to make pep talk as the minutes slowly passed by and the moon was still halfway to the center of the sky.

Malik pondered whether he should reveal his true name or make up a fake one. They didn't know his face so maybe it wouldn't hurt and if they betrayed his hospitality, he shouldn't have much trouble finding them, considering the outlandish clothes the two siblings wore.

"It is Malik."

"So Malik, why are you and the grumpy guy wearing white robes while the shorter one wears a grey one?"

"It is better if you do not know."

"If you say so. So where are you guys heading?"

"To Jerusalem." Malik pointed in the direction of where the city loomed.

"How do you know where it is?" Blake turned his head to look for any landmarks.

"We don't follow the land. This region shifts itself every time we venture out. Instead, we follow the stars." He gestured to the velvety sky dotted with the white presence of stars.

"So you stargaze too? But how do the stars help you navigate?" Blake looked up.

"The land changes in the desert so if we were to follow it, we would be as lost as you are. The stars don't change their position, neither does the sun." Malik rolled on his side and before long he was snoring.

Blake looked to the stars as he pondered on what had happened on this weird day. He gawked at the thought of how the stars would've been so helpful to him and his sister navigate on past flights when they lost their compass.

_Why don't they use compasses? Even in the Middle East, they would have compasses available. Malik and his team seem to be part of some company that probably isn't funded well. That would explain why they are using horses instead of cars. But wait; the Middle East is still a developing country, so maybe they don't sell cars here…. _Blake became lost in his thoughts of whether Malik and his buddies could be terrorists or not, and why Malik didn't tell him what his job was. Maybe it was a bad idea on his part to join these people. They keep their hoods on even when sleeping.

_This doesn't make sense. Even in a rural country like the Middle East, these guys should at least have a compass. All they have is leather and metal armor, swords and daggers, not to mention they all have their left ring finger cut off. I think Es and I should get the hell away from these people the moment we touch down in Jerusalem. They could be terrorists or some cult that practices some barbaric religion. We gotta watch our backs around these people, especially if they don't discuss what they do for a living. We should get the hell away from these people as fast as possible. I don't want to get involved with what Malik and his buddies' _actually _plan when we get to Jerusalem. _Blake went into an uneasy sleep on the cool sand, wondering if he would even wake up in the morning.

Malik got up after he was sure Blake and Esmeralda were really asleep and went over to Altair and Kadar. Both were awake.

"We need to get to Jerusalem by tomorrow. Al Mualim expects new recruits in three days' time," Malik whispered.

"Then we should recruit those two in case we don't get any new ones or can't get in," Altair said and crossed his arms.

"Yes, but only if we can't get any other potential recruits for the Brotherhood, as they do not know our tongue." Malik huffed. Kadar was only observing as this was his first recruiting mission.

"Then it is settled. We leave at dawn."

* * *

The group set out for Jerusalem once the sun created enough light for them to see the road clearly. There were only three horses, so both were-dragons had to share one with one of the assassins. Blake chose to go with Malik since he felt he knew the guy a tiny bit more than Mr. Grumpy and the grey hooded one. Esmeralda hitched a ride with Kadar rather than Altair because of obvious reasons. The ride was really awkward for both of them having to wrap their arms around the abdominals of both assassins, especially for Esmeralda since she had never been in such close proximity to any guy before.

They reached Jerusalem thankfully at sunset. By that time, tail bones were starting to hurt from the hard and continuous riding.

"Okay, thanks Malik and company for the ride, but I think we can handle ourselves now." Blake rubbed his lower back and his sister said nothing and started doing stretches to get the blood flowing again. Altair scowled at her display and once again she flipped him off. A fight ensued and both got a few cuts, bloody noses, and bruises before the rest pulled them apart before any real damage could be done. Both parties parted ways and that left the two were-dragons without a place to stay.

"Well damn," Esmeralda said as the night crept over the earthy houses. They wandered through the alleyways in search of a decent place to sleep. Upon finding a dead end alley with a ladder, they gathered the white sheets that were laying on crates scattered throughout Jerusalem. A city-wide search later, they gathered enough to make two makeshift beds on the cold ground. It was almost dawn by the time they were done, and the early birds of the city were beginning to stroll onto the empty streets of bazaars to get the best deals on various items before the rest of the residents could. Despite a whole night of no sleep, both siblings were only slightly tired.

Now that their 'home base' was made, they decided to explore the city a bit. Before long, many people were bustling in markets and everyone practically shoved to get to their destinations. Even with the cramped conditions, the people avoided Blake and Esmeralda as if they had the plague. All gave stern or confused looks at both and some were even disgusted with Esmeralda and her attire. She did her usual 'fuck off' finger to any who showed her their disapproval of her wearing pants.

Blake was gawking at the item shop merchants continuously shouting things in Arabic. He figured they were shouting about how awesome their goods were and why one should buy them.

"What is it with these people and women wearing pants?" Esmeralda stubbornly crossed her arms.

"Well, different cultures have different views on both genders and what their roles are. The entire world hasn't exactly caught the whole 'woman can be equal to men' thing." Blake shrugged and went back to scanning items placed on rugs. She merely snorted and started to walk behind him. After a while of looking at rugs, pots, jewelry, and countless other assorted items, they arrived at the food stands.

"We don't have any money," Esmeralda said plainly.

Blake sulked knowing he can't eat any of the delicious aromas that wafted his nostrils.

"I don't think we could even understand how much anything costs since we don't know a single word of Arabic." He sighed.

"What day is it?" Esmeralda asked out of the boredom.

"Uh, I think Thursday?"

"I'm going to miss Dragonball Z..."

"Oh yeah...well that sucks. Well, I have some of the DBZ seasons in my bag." He pointed behind his back.

"But we need a television and a DVD player. Man, and today was the finale of the Cell saga."

"By now you should know that Goku always wins." Blake poked her forehead.

"Hey, I like seeing half naked guys fighting," she said and swatted his hand away.

"Goku dies in the finale…for good." He chuckled.

"Well, he had to die sometime...but that's sad. How does he die?"

"Cell turned into a time bomb that will destroy the earth with only seconds to spare, Goku knew what had to be done, he said goodbye to everyone, teleported Cell and himself to King Kai's tiny planet, Cell blew up and killed Goku as well as destroying the planet too. Everyone cries, except for Vegeta since we know he's a bit of an asshole." Blake played out the scene with his hands as he talked, ignoring more weird looks from passing pedestrians.

"Well, can't they wish him back to life with the Dragon balls?" she asked.

Blake furrowed his eyebrows at her.

"What? I haven't seen the last few episodes because we had to go into hiding," she defended.

"Do you want me spoil why Goku dies for good? Or do you want to watch the episodes on your own when we get back to Fishsticks' place?"

"Don't you have your phone?"

"It's dead."

"Do you have the charger?"

"Yeah."

"Give me both when we get back to home base," Esmeralda ordered.

"Okay, so you want to head back? We don't have anything else to do now."

"Yeah, I want to catch up." She turned and walked back the way they came from. She plopped down on her makeshift bed and her brother handed her his phone and charger. Putting the plug into her mouth and connecting the phone resulted in the phone beeping; a signal that it was charging.

"How the HELL can you do that?" Her brother's jaw hung open. "I thought you only had freaking ice breath!" He yelled, making any who were near the dead end back away and turn the other direction. Esmeralda pulled the plug out of her mouth.

"Well, this was an idea I had to try out to see if it would really work. That answers your first question, now the second is I did only have ice breath, but I was messing around with a telephone pole because my arrow got lodged up there when I was practicing archery. You know those white cylinders that are at the top of those poles?"

Blake nodded.

"Yeah, I slipped and touched an exposed wire and got electrocuted."

"Are you a ghost?" His eyes got wide. If he was an anime character, he would have the same "WTF?" look Portgaz D. Trace looked when Luffy knocked the navy officer Smoker into him...chest first.

"No, you idiot. If I was a ghost, would these people keep giving me hate looks every time I take a step?"

"Good point, but that still doesn't explain how you gained electric breath." Blake tilted his head to the side and gave a confused look.

"Yes, well after being almost burnt into a crisp and paralyzed for hours, I found that I could move again and when I sneezed, electricity came out. In fact, I don't even know how I even survived in the first place. I should be dead right now." She checked her pulse to make sure she was indeed alive.

"Maybe were-dragons are more resistant to electricity, like Pokemon?" Blake grinned.

"Makes sense. But really, how did I survive?" She put the plug in and continued to charge up the phone, making a slight humming sound as she generated electricity into the phone.

Suddenly, a white clad form jumped down from the roof in front of them. Blake got into a fighting stance as his sister spat out the plug from being startled.

"Who are you?" Blake barked, fists clenched. True, he did recognize the white robes of the hooded man, but he did not know if he was Malik or not. He might as well have been sent to kill them or something.

"Greetings Blake, I trust you are well?" came a familiar voice.

"Malik?" Blake lowered his fists and relaxed as Malik approached.

"It seems both of you are in need of a place to stay, and need education in our native language. I can provide both if you would follow me, but be quick." He climbed the nearby ladder onto the roofs.

"Wait," Blake called after him. "How do we know we can trust you?"

No answer came.

"Come on, let's follow him." His sister took her shoes off, morphed her legs into a reindeer's back legs, and easily jumped onto the roof. The change was a little painful since it had been a while during the last time she morphed any part of her body.

"Are you crazy? He could be leading us into a trap or something," Blake said and did the same, although he had feline legs (a tiger's legs, to be exact).

"Well what do you think we should do? We don't know anything about Arabic and he's offering us a place to stay." She walked in place, happy to hear her hooves clacking against the sun-baked roof.

Blake gave her a sarcastic look.

"They have food," Esmeralda said.

That was all it took for her brother to run across the rooftops in the direction of Malik's form, whom was standing on a rooftop. His loose boots and long pants easily concealed his tiger legs as he sprinted over to Malik. He could easily jump two rooftops because feline legs are more springy than normal human legs, but he still had enough sense to not freak out Malik in his mad dash to find food. He kept his jumping under control by taking small leaps that looked like any human's jump.

Esmeralda turned her legs back to human and put her tennis shoes back on before following her brother. _Oh how I wish I had padded paws like Blake. A dog or wolf would've been better since I'm not fond of cats…the bloody lazy things, _she thought to herself.

Esmeralda grumbled and made the last jump, barely making it after jumping slightly too soon.

"I have grown a thousand years older by the time you came here," Malik _commented and_ frowned.

Blake had an impatient look since he wanted food, like NOW.

Malik dropped down the side of the one story building. He called for the were-dragons to come down. They did so and followed the white clad man to the city gates, where he put his hands up in a prayer position and told the were-dragons to wait behind.

Four guards were well-guarding the entrance like they were mighty gods. Malik briskly walked past them without being noticed and walked out of sight.

"He ditched us," Esmeralda accused when moments later, the guards yelled things in Arabic and ran behind the city walls, everyone scattered like ants.

Moments later, Malik appeared from behind the city wall and gestured for them to follow again. The were-dragons obeyed and found the group of white clad men mounting horses, as well as a slain body that littered the blood-soaked ground. Malik handed them the reigns of two horses, one black and the other roan, and told them to keep up.

"Wait, we don't know how to ride a horse," Blake quickly informed and grabbed Malik's arm before he could mount his horse.

"You will learn on the way, now hurry," Malik ordered and rode off, followed by the others.

* * *

**Another chapter down, what did you guys think? Good? Needs work? Should I get a dictionary/theasauras? If any of you suggest I should stop the story, I won't. This is called Fanfiction, I can do what I want even if it is cruddy, but I'm trying to improve so you got nothing on me. XD See you next chapter. :D**


	4. Recruited into the Brotherhood

**Here we go with chapter four :D**

* * *

**Chapter four**

**Masyaf**

The group of assassins made a dash away from Jerusalem and when Malik was out of earshot, Blake blurted as he shook Esmeralda, "Quick, turn into a reindeer and let me ride you!" He was greeted with a knee to the gut and let go to clutch his aching stomach.

"Do I look like a damn green Yoshi?" She frowned and mounted the roan horse. Blake followed her actions and they galloped after the trio. However, they kept their distance as the siblings discussed with each other.

"How long do you think we can stay?" Blake asked and looked at the sky. It was still noon, judging by the sun's position.

"As much time as we need, but we need to leave as soon as possible," Esmeralda replied and sighed. "You have know idea how much I want to fly right now; this horse's back is hurting my tailbone."

"I thought you hated being a were-dragon. You told me you wanted to be normal one time." Blake looked at her, concern in his black eyes.

"I do hate being a were-dragon, but-" she began to have a dreamy look in her eyes. "-there are some things I do like about it. I can fly like a bird, unrestricted by Earth's gravity. I can go anywhere I please by air. I can be the terror of the skies yet I can also be a gentle goddess." She smiled warmly at the idea of wind underneath her beating wings and the air whipping across her fur.

"So why do you still like to transform into your reindeer form and prance around, happy as can be?" he questioned further, trying to figure out why she hated being a were-dragon when she clearly enjoyed being one.

"I like the idea of feeling my body shift and reshape itself when I transform. It feels like I'm reborn in a way; same mind, different body." She started to stare off into space before a disturbing thought tore her from her pleasant daydream.

_When was the last time I checked his watch?_ She feared the thought of the serum secretly installed in Blake's watch running out; that serum was the only thing that kept him happy and not a sadistic monster who kills and tortures when agitated. He has no knowledge of the true purpose of the watch that rested on his left wrist other than conveniently telling the time. The watch is a fail-safe device invented by the efforts of Alexander (Fishsticks), his 'resources,' and herself to keep him under control.

_Let's see, the last time I filled his watch was two days ago. He hasn't been agitated in any way, so the vial should still be somewhat full. It's a good thing that one syringe can last about two weeks at the most, and the fact that Alexander made me take a dozen extras placed in a small case. I hope that it'll last until we can get back home…and that he'll stay in a stable mood. I swear, if Blake was in Dragonball Z, Broly would've had a brother…or at least a friend capable of causing just as much destruction, _Esmeralda thought to herself.

Blake decided to not bother her anymore as she continued to beat around the bush whenever he asked her why she did not like being a were-dragon. He figured when the time is right, she'll tell him. Until then, he focused his attention on the mountainous desert scenery that surrounded him.

Esmeralda looked at him when he wasn't looking. How could a lovable idiot become a monster when enraged?

_They both have so much in common besides the fact that both their names begin with the letter 'B.' Both need to be controlled and have their powers suppressed using some kind of device, they go berserk when angry, not to mention they have a vast amount of brutal power, and they get stronger the more they fight. It's crazy; my own brother just had to have the power and insanity of the most brutal DBZ character. I'd hate to think about what would happen if the serum runs out and we have no way to get back home to make more._ She continued to brood around on the subject.

She looked at his watch. The fine red line that rested on the side of the black watch was still seemingly full. She recalled the day Alexander told her of Blake's condition.

_"Es," a warm, compassionate voice called. "I need you to come with me." The voice belonged to a thirty-four year old man of a strong frame and black hair._

_"Sure, why?" she eagerly asked, expecting something cool. Her brother was out hunting and wouldn't be back for hours since the closest wild game they can find is at a remote reservation far away. She always visited his friend, Alexander, whenever he was out and couldn't return for a couple of hours._

_"Your brother has a…problem." Alexander's voice was barely above a whisper and full of dread. Esmeralda's heart sank at the last word. She feared she would lose her brother to some godforsaken disease._

_"He needs special medicine to keep him from harming others. Now you and I both know we can't have much contact with each other when Blake is here. We don't want him to know anything that may cause him to react violently." He looked straight into her eyes, seeing the fear. "Don't worry, he's not sick physically in any way but his mind is very sick." He tried to reassure her but his words still held a sense of danger._

_"I don't understand, how is he sick? Is he going to be alright? What's wrong with him?" Her voice started to quake at the thought of the answer she might receive._

_"I don't know if he will overcome his problem with time, but my friend at Abstergo has found something quite nerve-racking, so please believe what I'm saying." The werewolf's voice got even softer in tone. "You know how he is. He tends to get violent when provoked and doesn't calm down quickly." He noticed how Esmeralda nodded slowly. "You both know that you are what are known as were-dragons. Both of you found that out when you reached fourteen years of age. Now I drew a blood sample from Blake when he was sleeping and gave it to my friend who works at Abstergo."_

_Esmeralda shot him a warning look._

_"Don't worry, she is indebted to me and will not betray our secret. She would not be here if she was untrustworthy. She didn't find anything unusual but I talked her into doing a brain scan of Blake. The results were that he has an enlarged hypothalamus, particularly the part that deals with emotion."_

_She gave him a blank stare._

_"Meaning that strong emotions such as anger are magnified and because Blake is a were-dragon, his powers are also magnified in relation to his anger. For some reason, his anger is the only emotion that magnifies his powers as a were-dragon, and I think it is linked to the sun as the sun has violent nuclear fusion going on inside all the time."_

_"So, in a nutshell, he's like an angry time bomb?"_

_"Well, you could put it like that," he replied._

_"And here I thought his nature was just violent."_

_"But the medicine he needs is specially formulated by my friend to keep his anger levels down, promote 'happy' hormones, and also suppress his powers by not allowing his skin to absorb all of the sunlight; just enough sunlight can be absorbed so he cannot suffer any side effects from lack of vitamin D. She gave me the instructions on how to make it, and it is quite complex to say the least since it takes a whole week and a half to make properly. Now me and her devised a special watch that will administer a dose every twenty-four hours by jabbing a small needle."_

_"Won't Blake notice the prickling sensation whenever that needle injects the serum?"_

_"Not exactly. The needle is so small that he won't even notice the needle sliding underneath his skin. It takes a bit for the dose to be injected but it is essential if he becomes provoked since the serum is fast-acting and its effects are more quicker when his heart is pumping faster in response to agitation. Now we just need you to test it and see if it works. Make sure he does not know of our visits and the watch's true purpose."_

_"Why? Shouldn't we tell him?"_

_"No, because even with the watch functioning, he could still lose control and become extremely destructive if he knows we are controlling him like this. As you know, he is quite prone to destruction and you have seen what he is capable of when those gangsters tried to jump him; the entire gang and everyone even remotely related to it is dead. Even if he doesn't go insane, I don't want to risk it as the possible outcome can be quite devastating. If we could've devised a more reliable mind controlling device, we would use it instead of this, but alas our current technology is not that advanced yet."_

_"Okay let's test it…."_

_'Now I'm glad Blake isn't as much of a DBZ nerd as I am. He doesn't even know there are DBZ movies.' _She nodded happily to herself and remembered how she had to act like she didn't want to meet Alexander whenever Blake invited her to see him after she gave him the watch so that he wouldn't ever get the chance to eavesdrop on their discussions about him. She figured that it was a good idea for everyone's and Blake's own good if she kept contact with Alexander to a bare minimum whenever Blake was around. She managed to push the daunting thoughts to the back of her head so she could focus more on keeping up with Malik and the rest. During the nights, the siblings bonded a little bit more with Malik and Kadar and told them of what the U.S. is like, and Malik would teach them a few words of Arabic every night. Altair would usually remark on Esmeralda's clothes, almost starting a fight every time he did so, and the two were-dragons would teach both Malik and Kadar more about the English language.

On the third night, it was announced that they would arrive at Masyaf by tomorrow. Pretty much everyone was tired of the long days of riding horseback day in and day out.

"Hey Blake, here's your phone, and it's fully charged," Esmeralda said and handed him his phone back. She took a seat near the fire to warm up as a slight breeze moved the cold air around.

"I thought you wanted to catch up on DBZ," he remarked with a grin.

"I do but the internet keeps saying 'Internet Explorer cannot open the web page, make sure you are connected to the internet.'" She grumbled and curled into a ball to sleep.

"I'll deal with it tomorrow." Blake yawned and laid on his back to fall asleep as well. Pretty soon everyone was asleep and awaiting the last day of horse riding to finally rest in comfortable beds and take a much-needed bath.

* * *

Dawn came and they rode onwards to Masyaf. When they arrived at the wooden gates, they dismounted their horses and went inside. Even though it wasn't as crowded as Jerusalem, there were still a good number of people walking to and fro in their busy lives buying whatever they needed or struck their fancy. Everyone still gave the usual confused looks to the two new strangers that just arrived when they got near. By now the were-dragons were pretty much used to being stared at like they had two heads or something as they hiked up the steep mountain where the fortress castle stood like an imposing beast at the summit. Upon arrival at the gates, two white clad men stopped them and demanded answers for the two new strangers in Arabic. Altair intimidated them enough for them to back down and let the group pass when Malik said the two foreigners are new recruits for the Brotherhood. They gave just about what everyone else had given Esmeralda; harsh looks or looks of disgust. Not really being in the mood to open a can of whoop ass, she just shrugged them off and followed along with her brother.

When they entered the castle fortress, they noticed a stone tower to the right and a fighting ring off to the left where a few of the trainees were sparring against each other. They entered the castle and went up the two flights of stairs that led to Al Mualim's study on the second floor that hovered over the castle's entrance. The old man looked up from a scroll he was reading when Altair, Malik, and Kadar presented themselves. Both were-dragons could see his white triangular beard and discolored right eye that appeared to be blind. He wore a black coat to symbolize his dominance over the Brotherhood.

"I trust the mission was a success?" Al Mualim asked in Arabic with his old voice.

"Yes, we managed to gather two new recruits as all the prisoners who committed murder in Jerusalem have already been executed," Malik reported back to him in his native language.

"So where is the other recruit, if I may ask?" Al Mualim rose up from his desk.

"The girl wants to join apparently," Altair answered.

"I will not tolerate a girl disgracing the Brotherhood as she disgraces herself!" He slammed his old fist upon the wooden desk.

Even though they couldn't understand what they were saying, both siblings knew the discussion wasn't going too well.

"Master, if I may suggest, having a girl as an assassin would be quite useful as our enemies will never expect a woman, least of all a girl, to be an assassin," Malik offered.

The were-dragons were just standing, completely ignorant of what was being said.

Al Mualim walked to the barred window at the back of his study, lost in thought. Finally he declared, "Take them out to the fighting ring and test them. I will come and watch so I may decide if this girl is worthy enough to join our ranks."

Malik motioned for the were-dragons to follow and they obeyed without question until they descended the stairs.

"So what did he say?" Blake slid his hand over the stone rail that accompanied the stairs.

"Al Mualim wants to observe your fighting skills at the sparring ring. It will be a fistfight, so try to fight as best as you can," Malik advised.

Esmeralda hoped the strain of the fight wouldn't cause her brother to overdo it when the fight ended. She went first in hopes that she will prove herself to this Al Mualim and become part of his Brotherhood just to prove a girl can be just as good as a guy.

A grey-hooded man stepped in and laughed. "Is this a joke? Everyone knows a petty girl can't fight. All they do is cry for help."

_'He is just asking for an ass kicking.' _Blake mused when the crowd laughed with the grey-hooded man, which made Esmeralda lose all shreds of mercy. She brought her fists up and waited for her opponent to strike the first blow. He tried to punch her in the face but she ducked and landed a sharp jab to his exposed stomach that sent him reeling back, clutching his abdomen.

"Worthless bitch!" he yelled before he came charging like a bull, intending to tackle her down. At the last possible second, she strafed to the side, stuck out her foot and tripped the unsuspecting foe to the ground where she curb stomped him until he rolled away. He stood up, this time waiting for her to make a mistake. She ran towards him and swung her arm to the left when he sidestepped, missing by an inch. She quickly spun around and punched him in the face before kicking him away with a side kick. When he got up again with a bloody nose, she held out her hand and flexed her fingers as if to say "bring it" and smirked. He landed a slug punch and she stood there, taking the punch to the face before clutching the back of his hood and punching him three times in the stomach. She then landed an uppercut on his chin, which made him jump two inches off the ground. He fell and did not get up. Blood started to drip from her nose and she wiped it off.

"Don't underestimate your opponents whether they are male or female." She cracked her knuckles and exited the ring. No one said a word as the grey-hooded man was carried to the infirmary.

"It seems for the first time we have had a girl prove her worthiness to join our ranks as a Novice Assassin," Al Maulim bellowed in Arabic to the silent crowd.

"Tough crowd," she joked to Blake as he went into the ring with an evil smirk. This time a white-hooded man entered the ring and got into a defensive stance.

_'I hope he knows when to stop….'_ She crossed her arms and frowned as she watched. Blake charged without hesitation and punched the man in the gut hard enough for him to double over. A knee strike hit his face, causing his head to jerk backwards where Blake grasped the front of his shirt and head butted him before tossing the man to the side. The white-hooded man got up immediately and landed a series of blows to Blake's body from his stomach to his face. He took it without moving a step until the man leapt back and was certain he would fall from the offense.

Blake still stood and smirked as blood dripped from his nose and the corner of his mouth. Amazement turned into shock as Blake licked the blood off of his mouth with a wicked grin before walking menacingly to the white clad man who was stunned that he survived his knockout punches. Snapping out of his paralyzed state, the man punched as hard as he could straight into Blake's stomach. Blake reeled back a bit from the strength of the blow before he jabbed at the man's face repeatedly until he fell over unconscious. His body urged him to finish him off but the man was already being dragged out of the ring and was rushed to the infirmary.

"My children, we have two new recruits that will aid us in the war against the Templars who threaten our existence and poison the Holy Lands with their lies. We grow stronger every day and we will continue to do so until the infidels are driven out of our lands and we take back the Holy Lands that the great Allah blessed us with! Teach our newest members the way of the Assassins and let us bring an end to all blasphemy and evils our world has been plagued with!" Al Mualim shouted- still in Arabic -and raised his hands in a commanding way as the crowd cheered.

"What did he say?" Esmeralda poked Malik's arm. He translated and beheld her blank stare.

"We just joined a Brotherhood of Assassins? Why didn't you tell us you're an assassin?" She huffed.

"Our Creed forbids us. Now that you are one of us, you must learn it as well. There are three rules to our Creed. One; do not harm the flesh of the innocent. Two; be discreet in your work, and three; do not compromise the Brotherhood," Malik recited.

"Lemme guess; the second or third rule forbade you from telling us you are an assassin?" She had a sarcastic face.

"That would be correct, now follow me to our Master so he will give you your novice clothes," he beckoned and walked to the castle. "By the way, how did you not fall unconscious when you took all those hits, Blake?"

Esmeralda answered before he did. "We trained with a master in the U.S.A."

"He must be a very good fighter." Malik said as they hiked up the steep mountain.

Al Mualim had two grey uniforms on his desk. He beckoned Blake and Esmeralda to come forward and take them. They did as they were told and were dismissed to prepare for tomorrow's training. Malik showed them their room and left.

"Geez, I thought you were gonna kill the man," Esmeralda commented as they were exploring the town a bit since they had the rest of the day.

"It will give him a reason to fear me," Blake replied without much thought.

She left him alone, fearing he was still slightly agitated and instead glanced at the watch.

_'It's half-way gone... Maybe we can hang here for a bit, I want to show that women can be just as good as men. But once there are only four syringes left, we have to leave.'_

She decided and left it at that.

Sunset was beginning to wane and they went back to their room. It was a bland-looking room. A small desk with a candle sat in a corner next to a gaping window on the eastern wall. There were two beds on opposite sides of the room and a bookcase rested between the beds, filled with books written in Arabic. Esmeralda plopped down on her bed and stared at the bland ceiling. Blake looked towards the window and saw a grey cat silently resting on the sill. He walked to the cat and tried to grab it, but the cat got up and hissed at him before jumping off the sill and running away.

* * *

"Don't let your guard down, keep on your toes!" Malik barked as he battled Esmeralda with wooden swords. She lunged but Malik blocked and kicked her in the face. In a daze, she clumsily fell on her side.

"If you get knocked down, _always_ get back up, otherwise you are a perfect target for your opponent!" He continued to yell and put his sword to her neck. "Too slow, you are dead."

Esmeralda refused to stay down and slowly got back up, ready for more. The two battled again as Malik went on about tactics and swordsmanship.

Blake was battling with Altair and was more or less having the same difficulty as his sister, only he was about to break.

"Are you as weak as that girl?" Altair poked him in the chest with his wooden sword.

Blake snarled, swatted it away, and charged, intent on hurting the agile assassin. Frustration built up when he couldn't land a single hit on the fleeting man Every stroke he made was either blocked or dodged by the elusive Altair. The white clad man simply smirked at his student's feeble attempts at swordplay, uneducated in the fact that he and Masyaf were in mortal danger should he push Blake too far. The watch was working overtime in a slim attempt to do its job at keeping the clinically insane were-dragon from decimating the entire village in a fit of rage. So far, the watch was barely able to prevent Blake from his breaking point throughout the entire day.

The training session was over by the time the serum was almost empty, much to Esmeralda's relief. After each sparring session, Altair and Malik would take a pebble from the ground and demand that the siblings catch and take the pebble from them. It was a test of speed and quick thinking, as well as the ability to do free running. The siblings tried as hard as they could but they could never catch the higher ranking assassins in their human forms.

Days went on like this. It was fortunate that the serum could be used for three days at a time before it needed to be replaced. Usually one syringe could be used for a month, but now Blake was continuously being angered by the fact he couldn't best Altair. Esmeralda just got up and tried again, ignoring her body's plea for rest and to recover from the multiple bruises and cuts she got from the hands of Malik and his training exercises.

Whenever Blake was asleep, his sister would quietly change the empty syringe with new one every third night. When training was over, Malik would then teach them more of the Arabic language and had them write the words in Arabic as well. It was hard work to remember every sound a letter made and what that letter looked like, how to conjugate the words and apply them to real conversations, but both siblings managed to memorized everything Malik told them to remember.

A week went by before Altair and Malik were summoned by Al Mualim.

"What do you request, Master?" Malik bowed as did Altair out of respect.

Al Mualim looked up from a scroll he was reading and spoke in a grave voice, "I have gained information on the whereabouts of Robert de Sable and an artifact that is vital to the Brotherhood. Robert de Sable is closing in on the artifact as we speak. We must not let him have it otherwise the Brotherhood could be at stake. I need you to take the three novices and teach them how to kill Robert's lowly henchman, so that you may save your strength for Robert himself."

"You want us to retrieve the Templar treasure before Robert and to teach the novices the art of killing," Altair summed up.

"But why take such a large group? It would be easier if only Altair and I went. We wouldn't need to protect the novices should one of them freeze up in battle," Malik protested.

"I need you to take the novices so that the girl will die, resulting in her brother's eternal hatred of the Templars and gaining us a potential master assassin. Revenge is quite a motivation when one of your family members have been killed by the hands of your enemies it seems. Make sure Blake witnesses his sister's death. Don't protect her if she is being overwhelmed by Robert's forces."

"What of my brother, Kadar?" Malik wondered.

"He is well-trained and should be able to take upon the work of the assassins. He will be initiated as a true assassin when he comes back." He looked to Altair and said, "Make sure the girl dies."

"It shall be done," Altair replied when Al Mualim dismissed them.

* * *

**Yup, there is chapter four. Al Mualim has it out for Es. D:**

**Once again I would love to thank Cyndardragon for proof-reading my story. :D**


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